After walking to the bus station, which was incredibly close and convienient I jumped on the public bus to the boarder. Once at the boarder I had to go through various windows for different paperwork while been hasseled to change currency, as it is clear to anyone that they are not holding $1000's worth so it must be fake and after 30 plus people shouting 'cambio,cambio' in my face while wafting the fake notes around I was astounded they were still trying and that anyone actually used this 'service'. The other majorly annoying this was the random members of the public often dressed or just acting like guards literally grabbing your passport, it's so rude! Then I had one guy who guessed my name and was shouting 'Anna, Anna, I'm your guide' this confused me but as every destination I meet at least another 2 Anna's I have realised how internationally common my name is, but as I didn't have a guide to cross the boarder I politely decline his services as he insisted that I could wait here while he quickly got my passport stamped for me so I didn't have to carry my bag! What a ridiculous thing to suggest, that customs would not need to see me with the passport so he could run off with a British passport, so I obviously didn't accept and walked through myself. However he would not stop so after finally asking another police guy to tell him to leave me alone and actually firmly saying I do not have a guide and asking him to leave he finally listened and found his next pray (young gringo girls travelling alone)! When I escaped the con artist ambush of the boarder I managed to meet my actual pick up driver and go through to San Juan. Once here I walked through the hostel door to 'The Naked Tiger' to be greated by a guy shouting 'Hey, it's you who slept with (a name I can't remember) last night!' so I replied with 'unless he was in Costa Rica and he date raped me I don't think it was...' which gave me a brilliant but true first impression of the place! Apparently he was doing it to everyone who walked through the door and the hostel attracted this type of d*** head crowd. Appart from that it was lovely! Just out of town up the hill, a beautiful white spanish villa with pool and nice communal areas. After meeting with Louise and her new friend Lauren we decided to go into town and get dinner and drink early. They filled me in on the hostel and we decided to move the next day...not that we don't like party hostels just this one was full of all guys who only talk about been drunk or on drugs which was ridiculously boring! After a lovely dinner, frozen chocolate bananas and lots of free drinks (ladies night everynight in San Juan) we watched a live band then ended up at the main club, Iguanas for a late night before riding the shuttle (20 people shoved on the back of a pick up truck) up to the Naked Tiger where we stayed up and drank more with everyone.

The next morning we moved down to Jahure, a gorgeous hostel with a much better vibe. A lovely pool, right on the beach, and again a spanish villa style but with a great kitchen. After relaxing we all made a big dish of guacemole and chips for us and others at the hostel to share. We then met two girls that Lauren and Louise met the night before I arrived for dinner and drinks. The two girls were both called Kirsten and were teachers in a bilingual school in Honduras. We all had a great evening, ending at a local show with traditional dancing and music with shows. The dancing was bizare with a combination of dances dipicting cross dressers and transexuals, abusive relationships and other random things! It was definitely amusing and had a sense of a strange all inclusive hotel entertainment in Gran Canaria.

The next day we got up early and went for a surf lesson. However this was fully booked, so we decided to get another shuttle to the beach to sort surfing out there, after waiting for half an hour this shuttle broke down so we had to find another one. When we finally got there both the surf hire and lessons were 3 times the price so we decided just to wait till the next day and sunbathe. As we got to the beach, laid our towel and settled down obviously the heavens would open. The day was definitely not working out! We decided to get the earlier shuttle back and after a few attempts of getting up the mud track to go home we finally made it! It was at this point we realised it was Friday the 13th, so that explained why we seemed to have the worst luck ever! It wasn't a total lost cause though as we managed to book surf lessons for the next day and bumped into the Kirstens and decided to have a dinner party at our hostel so we cooked the main and they would bring desert. We stocked up on food at the market and started cooking. We all had a really good evening, with great food and chocolate brownies and rum and it definitely made a massive improvemet on our day! It was also another girls birthday at the hostel so there was a pinata and lots of people drinking.

Waking up early for our surf lesson, Louise and I walked down to the surf shop. After getting kitted up we went on our way with a glorious day and perfect surf reports! We spent a while on the beach learning the techniques and physics behind the balance. This really helped and our teacher was amazing! We then went into the water and started to go! With the first wave I almost stood up but falling after a few seconds! Then it got better and better and standing by my third! It was sooo fun and alot easier than I imagined. After 2 hours or so in the water we stopped for lunch then went back in. By this point the waves had picked up and it was a lot harder. I stopped while I was ahead but Louise battled on for abit longer (she had done 3 weeks in Newquay so that is my justification) so I sat in the bar with guys I met in Costa Rica and the others from the lesson. In the end it worked out perfectily that we didn't surf on the 13th and we all had a great day. That night we all headed for dinner with everyone from the lesson and Lauren came along. We then went to the Blue Whale for live music and then down to the beach with a local band Louise had interviewed (she's here travelling as a freelance music journalist researching local musicians) and had a bonfire and more drinks with music. We then all headed to Iguanas for another night and spent most of it dancing!

The next morning we all were heading to Granada, a city in Nicaragua. With my bus pass I got a lift in a car which was amazing and was in the next hostel by 10:30. Once the other two arrived we went for a lunch to help with the hangovers then all had a nap! We wandered round the town and got ready for some dinner.

The next day Lauren and I explored the town, which we managed to cover in a morning. We went to numerous cafes as they were all gorgeous and so cheap we couldn't resist! We also went to the local sights and then the market. This was a lovely working local market which was great to see with unusal fruits and vegs until we hit the meat and fish section. Stupidly we went around 1ish at the hottest part of the day. The added heat with the meat and fish which was in no way refrigerated started to give a rancid rotting meat, fishy smell that was literally the worst thing I've ever dealt with in my life! The raw meat was piled high and the markets were narrow and crowded. After holding my breath but with no where to go and nearly fainting we decided it was time to leave! We headed to the lake with Granada is set on and then went back to the hostel to chill in the hammocks. Later on we bumped into the Kirstens and Cassie, another girl we met in San Juan, and also met some other people from the hostel. We all chatted and caught up on what we'd all been doing.

The next day I woke up early and went for breakfast at another cafe, I really ate like a queen in this place, and then met the Kirstens and Cassie to go to Masaya. Masaya was a nearby town on a 1p or so chicken bus ride with famous markets and crafts. Once we were there though we hit the first market and I have never seen so much stuff in one small place, over a million hammock and varoius other souvenirs. It was clear to see when we left the artisan area into total random tourist s*** souvenirs territory. With blown up stuffed frogs placed in comprimising positions or just the heads on a key chain alongside various other stuffed animals as an obvious perfect souvenir. There was also rather vulgar mugs of different body party which I can leave up to your imagination. The list goes on of the most random s*** you could imagine. Like who thought I know what tourist would love, a stuffed blown up frog as a bottle holder...and then who bought it! Probably people as a joke, then it was a spirial of ridiculous acceleration with this joke supply which the locals responded to probably not understanding our wierd obsession with these objects but meeting the demand. And now from this joke it seemed you couldn't find anything you would actually want to buy! But then we asked about some places to eat, after been put off market food for life from the previous day, we realised we weren't in the right market...we jumped in the back of this familys truck and when we arrived at the different market we realised the drastic difference. With lovely, traditional sovenirs it was a much nicer but more pricey market! After looking around we headed back to Granada. For the afternoon I chilled in the hostel with the guys and we all shared a bottle of rum and had a great time, we had lots of different conversations and before I knew it it was dark and the girls had come back all ready for dinner! We all had went for a last meal together and caught the begins of a festival in the town square. This involved break dancing and a Miss Granada competition!

Before heading to Managua, we all got our last breakfast at our favourite cafe (The Secret Garden Cafe) and indulged a little too much. I ordered a smoothie, chocolate banana pancakes, scrambled eggs and toast. The others all had equal amounts. It was definitely worth it though, best breakfast I have ever had...ever! We then said our goodbyes and Louise and I made our way to the captial. Managua is definitely off the beaten tourist track with everyone, even locals saying it is a s***hole with nothing to do and the most dangerous place in central america! Despite this off we went! Louise had a few interviews to do and there was a few good events going on so we just thought we would just be extra careful. After arriving and taxi drivers jumping on the bus as they saw our white skin and my blonde hair from a 500m radius we were annoyed. The drivers grab you, try take your bag so you go with them and some were physically fighting each other for us to get in their cab! This obviously does not strike us with trust for these men so ignoring this and telling them to stop touching us we made our way to the 'taxi rank'. Although it's awful they are that desperate for buisness it wasn't too nice after all the horror stories of tourists been robbed of everything they own in the cabs. We were fine though and made it to our hostel mid afternoon. We relaxed, I cooked dinner and got ready for our night out.

After meeting another guy in the hostel we all got a taxi to a suburb where a local music gig was going on and Louise was doing interviews. It was family based with children hanging out too and dropping off to sleep one by one in different corners of a gazebo! We were welcomed by the organiser and given seats and drinks! The music was tradtional folkloriate and was all about the countires revolution. They sang about the national heros and current FSLN communist government. We all enjoyed the gig and went back to the hostel to head to a different dj event in the centre. Once we arrived though, abit too late beause of the earlier gig the door man was not the most helpful and wouldn't let us find the guy who organised it with Louise, our only option was to pay $15 in each which was not going to happen on a $20 a day budget so we hung out outside for a while (the clubs are outside so there isn't a major difference) and spoke to all the locals before catching a cab home. This however made me realise how little I knew about the history of Nicaragua and as I was planning on going to the cenral park for the 33rd aniversary of the revolution in the morning I though it was best to read up on it!

So waking up eary I spent some time googling the whole deal with the FSLN and realised it was quite complex with corruption, meddling from the US for meat and other resources, guerilla fighters and then finally the revolution with the FSLN getting power. However this is now again not so simple with many people saying it is corrupt and another party, the contra, are fighting against them. But despite this you wouldn't know the country was divided. When arriving in the centre the square was full, with thousands and thousands of locals flocking to see the president, Daniel Ortega, speak and some others. There was lots of street food, music, people selling drinks and all dancing in the street. Everyone was dressed in Che Guevera and Sandino t-shirts as symbols of communist support and fighters or the governments 33rd year aniversity tops. As Managua is known to be dangerous and due to numerous earthquakes and natural disasters destroying any infrastruce of interest most tourists avoid the city. This resulting in Louise, Illia (a russian guy who immigrated to Canada we met in the hostel) and myself as the only tourists we saw all day. This did make us feel slightly nervous for targetted pick pocketing and general eyes watching us! But after enjoying some local food for lunch and a beer in the sun we enjoyed people watching and seeing this unusal support and political party. After talking to locals we realised that some people were obliged to turn up if they worked in the government sector or they would be fired and also the government provdied free rum, tona (the local beer) and taxis to promote people's attendance. Despite the maybe slight corrupt side of the celebrations it was definitely interesting to see and we all survived un-robbed! Making the day a success. Once back at the hostel we all cooked a nice dinner and chatted into the evening about Illia's Russian upbringing and the different cultures they have there with communisim which was really interesting! By luck we managed to see a very interesting side to Managua and I learnt alot more about the country! Here's a youtube link for a short bit of footage of the central park if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwbqKl0QwfY